Review by Frank Plowright

Jaime Reyes’ life as Blue Beetle has become increasingly complicated. The Reach, the aggressive conquering alien race responsible for the scarab that powers him, have for generations had a schism, and a small section of their population, the Horizon, fight against their aggressive intentions. They’ve arrived in Palmera City, where Kord industries and a still active earlier Blue Beetle are based, and have generated beetle counterparts in Dynastes and Nitida, both with greater raw power and who now work alongside Jaime.

Josh Trujillo and Adrián Gutiérrez tidily established all this in Graduation Day, and continue as they started by further exploring the new circumstances they’ve set up. Scarab War, however, is slightly darker for the appearance of a murderous new armoured warrior targeting anyone wearing a scarab activated suit, and advanced enough to consider the defences they come equipped with as trivial.

The colour work this time is shared between Wil Quintana and Nick Filardi, and the result is that it’s toned down from the previous brightness levels. As seen on the sample page, though, it’s still imaginatively applied to Gutiérrez’s art. He tends to fill the pages with backgrounds during more standard scenes, but leaves the colourists to provide the atmosphere during battle scenes. They’re dynamic enough, but more than light behind the figures would be preferable. Still, the creativity is apparent on the sample art, and versatility is apparent when Gutiérrez looks back to a Blue Beetle of old.

Characterisation is a strength of Trujillo’s. He ensures no-one is here just to make up the numbers, and through the Horizon aliens he has some points to make about the way we live as observed by outsiders. A compelling mixture of small character moments, threat and mystery builds toward a last ditch battle, and once the dust clears we’re into Forever Blue.